Chapter Twenty: King Versus King

Weiqiao.

This place, which in history was the site of the Treaty of Weiqiao, had now become the key to whether the Turks could escape from the Central Plains.

At this moment, the Turkic generals, led by Jieli, were at the front of the army, less than five li from Weiqiao. Their two hundred thousand troops stretched for dozens of li, so even though the rear lines were under attack by Li Kong and the Armored Cavalry, the front remained eerily calm.

"Once we cross Weiqiao, we’ll reach the Hetao Plain. Yanmenguan is just five hundred li away. Issue the order—everyone is to quicken their pace and cross Weiqiao before nightfall!" Jieli finally breathed a sigh of relief as he spoke out loudly.

Ashide Wumeichuo glared coldly at Jieli. Though he detested Jieli to the core, there was nothing he could do now. Jieli had seized complete control of the army, and with a single command, he could have them all slaughtered—perhaps without even a chance to resist. This raid into the Central Plains had brought ninety thousand of Tuli’s men, half of his most trusted warriors. If they were all lost here, the Tuli tribe would be all but wiped out.

He could only wait for an opportunity, but at the moment, that chance seemed hopelessly out of reach.

At the rear, Li Kong led three thousand Armored Cavalry, carving through the Turks like a tiger among sheep, reaping heads as easily as cutting melons. After a night spent freezing, the Turkic soldiers’ limbs were stiff, their reactions dulled, making it nearly impossible for them to pose any real threat to Li Kong’s forces.

In less than the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, nearly ten thousand Turks had been slaughtered—none survived. Meanwhile, Li Kong’s troops advanced nearly five li.

"Young Master Li, should we halt and wait for His Majesty’s main army?" A cavalryman called out as Li Kong was in the thick of battle.

Li Kong glanced back and sneered, "And why should we?"

"To charge ahead with a small force is a grave military mistake!" The cavalryman stammered, threatened by the look in Li Kong’s eyes—it was as if he stared into the eyes of a furious tiger.

Li Kong merely shrugged, dispatching another Turkic soldier who tried to resist. "The Turks' horses are exhausted. After our assault, their morale is at rock bottom. If we let them go now, can you bear the responsibility?"

"Well…"

"Enough. Follow me and keep pressing the attack—we must not let the Turks cross Weiqiao, or all our efforts will be for naught!" With that, Li Kong lashed his whip across his horse’s flank and charged forward.

The Armored Cavalry were never ones to fear death. Seeing Li Kong’s example, they cast aside their doubts, flanking him and launching a second wave of slaughter against the Turks.

Less than five li from Li Kong’s position, Li Shimin arrived at the edge of the battlefield with thirty thousand troops.

Seeing the Turkic corpses strewn about, the generals all gasped. Li Jing’s face grew grave with regret. "We nearly missed a golden opportunity, Your Majesty. Li Yunfeng was right—the Turks are at the end of their rope. We must pursue at once and not let them cross Weiqiao. Should they escape, it will be like fish returning to the sea—too late to catch them then!"

"Generals, hear my command! Pursue the Turks at once—let not one escape!" Li Shimin ordered, leading his personal guard in a charge.

Cheng Yaojin, Yuchi Gong, Hou Junji, and the other generals were quick to follow, galloping ahead, leaving only Li Ji, Li Jing, Du Ruhui, and Fang Qiao behind.

They were commanders, not suited for the front lines. In terms of martial prowess, Li Shimin alone could handle all four of them. Watching the charge, they felt a pang of discomfort.

As the sun climbed higher, Li Shimin’s reinforcements joined with Li Kong’s troops, unleashing an even greater massacre.

It was, indeed, a massacre. For the Tang cavalry, rested after a night’s sleep, the Turks—frozen after an entire night in the snow—were no different from lambs for the slaughter.

As the scale of the slaughter grew, Jieli finally sensed something was amiss. A breathless messenger at last reached him.

"Great Khan, the Tang army is upon us! Our soldiers are resisting, but the enemy is strong. We’ve already lost more than ten thousand men here."

Jieli could not contain himself and spat out a mouthful of blood. His face, flushed from the cold, turned deathly pale. He roared, "How many of them?"

The soldier trembled all over. "By rough estimate… not less than thirty thousand!"

The soldier had lied. When he left, only Li Kong and three thousand cavalry were present, but to cover his own failure, he exaggerated tenfold. If Jieli later discovered the Tang army was fewer than five thousand, the soldier could claim their men fought valiantly and destroyed the enemy.

"Form ranks! Prepare to meet the enemy!" Jieli barked coldly. His troops immediately halted, turning and contracting their lines on both flanks.

One had to admit, the Turks had learned much from the Central Plains in recent years. From the moment Jieli issued his order to the completion of the formation, less than half an hour passed.

Having just dispatched a Turkic soldier, Li Kong reined in his horse and gripped his blade, his gaze fixed intently on the man emerging from the enemy lines several hundred meters away.

Seeing the Turkic leader he had previously spared, Li Kong laughed, pointing at Jieli and calling out, "Which Khan of the Turks are you?"

"I am Ashina Duobi of the Turks. Is the Tang Empire so lacking in men that they would send a mere stripling to challenge me?" Jieli replied, his eyes cold, surveying the ground littered with Turkic corpses—very few of them Tang soldiers. Clearly, a bloody massacre had just taken place here.

Looking at the corpses stretched for li on end, Jieli felt as if he might cough up blood. At least fifty thousand dead! His painstaking alliance with Tuli had come to this: setbacks upon setbacks in the Central Plains, pushing the two tribes to the brink of annihilation. Such humiliation made Jieli long to bathe the Tang Empire in blood.

Ashina Duobi? Wasn’t that Jieli? Then the one who died must have been Tuli!

Li Kong realized this and sneered. "Whether the Tang has men or not, you’ll soon find out. As for you, a barbarian of the steppe, a mere youth like me is more than enough to deal with you."

At that moment, Li Shimin’s imperial chariot swept past Li Kong, heading straight for Jieli.

"Jieli! We haven’t seen each other in years—and your courage has grown?" came a voice as cold as a ghost, piercing Jieli’s heart and making him involuntarily shudder.